Performance Development Manager

Performance Development Manager Department: Business Support Employment Type: Full Time Location: West Malling Reporting To: Kelly Grayland Compensation: £40,000 - £60,000 / year Description As a Performance Development Manager, you’ll be at the heart of how our people learn, grow, and perform. You’ll design and deliver high-impact training that supports operational excellence, safety, and compliance across our field and office-based teams. This is a hands-on, influential role for someone who knows the utilities world inside out and enjoys combining strategic thinking with real operational engagement. You’ll mentor our people, support our projects, and help embed a culture of continuous improvement across the business. Key Responsibilities What You’ll Be Doing: Design & Deliver Training: Create and lead a tailored, future-ready training framework using classroom, practical, and digital learning methods. Boost Performance: Identify skills gaps and drive initiatives that improve efficiency, quality, and reliability across the business. Support Growth & Bids: Partner with Project Managers to demonstrate workforce capability during bids and proposals. Create Engaging Learning Content: Develop presentations, manuals, e-learning modules, workshops, simulations, and hands-on exercises. Measure What Matters: Implement assessments, track impact and ROI, and continuously refine training programmes. Develop Our People: Mentor and coach employees at all levels, supporting personalised development and career progression. Collaborate & Influence: Work closely with Operations, HR, HSEQ, Project Managers, and service owners to align training with business needs and compliance. Support Talent & Onboarding: Play a key role in recruitment, inductions, onboarding, appraisals, and performance improvement plans. Lead Change: Act as a driver of organisational improvement and quality enhancement. Stay Operationally Engaged: Maintain a hands-on presence, supporting field operations when required. Skills, Knowledge & Expertise Technical Expertise: Strong knowledge of the utilities sector, ideally within clean water networks including valve operations, flushing, sampling, and CALM networks. Operational Experience: Proven experience working across both field-based and desktop operations. Training & Development: Demonstrated expertise in training design, development, and delivery. Leadership & People Management: A confident and empathetic leader with the ability to motivate, mentor, and influence diverse teams. Organisation & Project Management: Highly organised with strong project management and planning skills. Adaptability: Comfortable adapting to change in a fast-paced, growing business environment. Technical Skills: Proficient in Microsoft Excel and PowerPoint. Digital Learning: Experience developing e-learning and digital training solutions. Compliance Knowledge: Understanding of regulatory and compliance requirements within the water industry. Talent Development: Familiarity with performance management and talent development frameworks. Job Benefits Pension: 4% employer contribution (+1% above auto-enrolment minimum) Holiday: 26 days + bank holidays, rising to 30 days with long service Location: Head office with flexible hybrid working Equipment: Company phone, laptop, monitors, uniform, PPE, and required tools Benefits: Benenden Health & Lifestyle Rewards (24/7 GP, private healthcare options, retail discounts) Development: Funded professional qualifications and memberships Culture: Companywide summer and winter events, annual appraisal and salary review, refer-a-friend scheme